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‘Spider-Man’ Musical Loses Its Mary Jane

By Patrick Healy March 10, 2010 9:30 amMarch 10, 2010 9:30 am

Phillip Caruso/Magnolia PicturesEvan Rachel Wood in the film “The Life Before Her Eyes.”

The long delays hindering the anticipated Broadway musical “Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark” has claimed another casualty: The actress Evan Rachel Wood, who was set to play Mary Jane Watson in the show, has dropped out because of a scheduling conflict, according to a statement from the “Spider-Man” producers.

Ms. Wood’s departure, which was first reported by Variety, comes 15 months after it was announced that she would take the role. In that time, however, the musical’s original team of lead producers stumbled in raising the money to mount the show, which is expected to cost about $50 million, by far the most expensive on Broadway.
A new lead producer, Michael Cohl, came on board in November to work with the director, Julie Taymor (“The Lion King”), at the behest of U2’s Bono and the Edge, who together wrote the music and lyrics for the show. With the musical scheduled to begin preview performances last month, Mr. Cohl announced this winter that the show would be delayed until later in 2010 and that tickets for previously scheduled performances would be refunded.

In the statement, the producers said that Ms. Wood’s commitments did not permit her to stay attached to the musical and that a search for a replacement was under way.

“Spider-Man” has become an indefinite work proposition for actors, given all the delays, and the producers and designers have worried for some time that cast and crew members would begin to drop out because they had to take on other projects. Tony Award winner Alan Cumming (“Cabaret”) has signed on to play the villain Green Goblin, and newcomer Reeve Carney has been cast in the lead role of Peter Parker and his alter ego, Spider-Man.

The producers still have not announced a schedule for rehearsals, preview performances, and an opening night, meanwhile. Rumors have abounded among Broadway producers and press agents for many months that the show would open at the Hilton Theater on Broadway this summer, this fall, or never.